ABU DHABI : Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf condemned
Saturday the reported desecration of the Koran by US interrogators
at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba, saying it was
"unpardonable".
"Our government believes that the most terrible act has taken
place," Musharraf said.
"Whoever has done it must be punished. The incident must be
investigated, and those responsible should be taken to task," he
told reporters, during a two-day visit to the United Arab
Emirates.
"It is unpardonable," he added.
Pakistan's senate on Wednesday demanded an impartial international
probe into the reported desecration, saying in a resolution adopted
unanimously that "this reprehensible act of the sacrilege has hurt
the sentiments of Muslims the world over."
Protests erupted in Pakistan, a key ally in the US-led war on
terror, after a report in Newsweek magazine in early May said
Guantanamo Bay interrogators threw a Koran into a toilet to rattle
Muslim inmates.
The Pentagon, which wrapped up an investigation Saturday, said US
military personnel at Guantanamo Bay once kicked the Koran, and a
copy was sprayed with urine in another incident, but overall US
soldiers at the camp handled the Islamic holy book with respect. -
AFP /ch